Participants listen to Bowling Green head football coach Scot Loeffler (not pictured) during the inaugural women’s football clinic hosted by BGSU football on July 25 at Doyt L. Perry Stadium. (Scott W. Grau/Sentinel-Tribune)
By Ben Shanahan
Special to the Sentinel-Tribune
Bowling Green State University football hosted its first ever women’s clinic on Tuesday at Doyt L. Perry Stadium to build social networks, create team support and show participants what it’s like to compete in football drills.
The idea was created by Stephanie Paris, wife of BGSU Athletic Director Derek van der Merwe, and Amie Loeffler, wife of BGSU head football coach Scot Loeffler. They got together and were inspired by other schools that have done the same event.
“When Derek and Stephanie moved here, Stephanie and I got together at Juniper (Brewing Company) and we were just talking about things that had succeeded at other universities we had been at,” Amie Loeffler said.
“While trying to create some excitement for the community, this is what we landed on. We had both been a part of something like this in the past, and it needed to be a part of the Bowling Green community.” Loeffler said.
From that Juniper cup of coffee came the planning process and the goal of getting 100 women involved in the camp. It was not a hard process for Paris and Loeffler, who had already been a part of these programs before.
“The planning process started a few months ago, and the goal of the camp was 100 women, which we just fell short of at 96, but it is still very exciting,” Paris said.
“It is not just about the ladies learning more about each position but also building friendships, networks, and bringing the BG family even closer.”
Loeffler made sure to give a special thank you to the BGSU athletic department for helping in multiple ways.
“We started having meetings with the athletic department. They helped us with everything and really pushed it over the top. We are very grateful for all their help to bring this great event to the community of Bowling Green.” Loeffler said.
Like most events in the BG community, it does not take two people to plan it, but many local businesses welcomed this new event with open arms, donating all types of items to be raffled off later that night. Every woman who participated also got a gift bag as soon as they checked into camp.
“The local businesses stepped up as well, donating over $3,500 in giveaways that we will be able to give to the athletes in this women’s clinic,” Loeffler said.
This is hopefully only the beginning. Stephanie Paris explained that the goal is that this becomes an annual event that might even sneak into some other sports.
“We are definitely doing it next year,” Paris said. “We hope it continues to grow so it can be an annual event.
“We may possibly do one for hockey, but nothing is official yet. We have some female hockey players at the camp today. It would be cool to do another sport and see this grow.”
